Treasure on the Morrow
by Cormag Ravenstaff
Summary: A job that seems too good to be true. A blonde that seems to good to be true. A treasure that seems too good to be true. The cards aren't in their favor, but that's never stopped Jaune and Ren before. Sometimes convenience is just a course of luck. And sometimes...there's more to the story. Treasure Hunter AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Here we go, another small(ish) RWBY project. I recently played all the Uncharted games (And loved them), so here's my treasure hunter AU for RWBY!**

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 **Chapter 1**

"So when did she say she was going to arrive?" Ren asked, sipping from his teacup.

Jaune's black coffee clacked back down on the table in contrast. He fished into the pocket of his jacket and pulled a phone out. Squinting at the screen through the sunlight reflected, he said, "About five minutes ago."

The _tink_ as Ren set his cup down spoke all the disapproval he did not say. The coffee shop they sat in was rather quiet, with few patrons milling about in the Monday morning traffic.

Jaune never liked spending too much time in Vale. It was stuffy, claustrophobic. Cars and people passing fluidly, never giving a moment for breath.

"Jaune," Ren interrupted. He jerked his head slightly, pointing out a new figure who had entered the calm shop.

The blonde spoke to the barista for a few moments, then scanned the area briefly until her eyes fell on Jaune and Ren. She set a firm pace towards them.

He enjoyed the pleasure of watching this woman walk towards him. After all, she was a lot to look at. Gorgeous, confidant, she had it all. His day dream was only interrupted by the screeching of a chair pulling across the floor.

"Let me first apologize for being late." She smiled, almost as if that would smooth everything over.

" _You're_ Yang Xiao Long?" Jaune sputtered with eyes of disbelief.

Yang fluttered her eyelashes, a coy smile firmly fixed to her face. "Not what you expected?"

"What Jaune means is that usually we deal with older clients," Ren interjected diplomatically. "People who have held on to artifacts for some time and aged out of the period of their life where they could gallivant off."

"Gallivant, good word," Yang remarked. "I hear that, I clearly don't fit that bill. But blondie here seems a bit more enrapt with my…physique."

Both Yang's word choice and Ren's kick broke Jaune out of his haze. He took a quite breath and in his best attempt to salvage the situation, said, "I'm sorry, Ms. Xiao Long."

Yang laughed. "Don't call me that, that's my mom's…well…not actually, I guess. Um, call me Yang." Her laugh shifted to a nervous chuckle as she twirled a strand of her hair.

"I'm sorry, Yang."

"Look, but don't touch, bucko," Yang said alongside a wink. She turned to Ren, who was in the middle of glaring at Jaune. "Anyway, I was told you two are treasure hunters."

Ren sipped his tea. "That's a way of putting it. My name is Ren and you've of course already had Jaune introduce himself in his own way." Yang chuckled and Jaune groaned. "Why have you come to procure our services, if I may be blunt?"

"You may." Yang nodded with approval as she reached into her purse. From within, she extracted a plastic bag. She set it on the table.

Both Jaune and Ren leaned forward. Inside the bag was an old piece of paper, brown and aged. "May I?" asked Jaune as he reached for it.

"Go ahead," Yang said with a nod of her head.

Jaune popped the bag open and removed the paper. It was old, very old. The material, if it even was paper, was on the verge of tearing apart.

"It's a map," Jaune remarked as he unfolded it and set it on the table for Ren to see.

Yang leaned back, letting the two men study the map. "I'd worked that much out on my own. But I can't read anything on it, it's some archaic language—"

"Old Vacuoan," Ren surmised. "It saw brief usage in this region as Vacuoan explorers came through before the people of Vale expanded this far south."

"It seems like it details the expedition to some temple or structure. I can't tell what that word says though."

Ren cut in. "Something about a woman of fall. That suffix means pure, so a maiden of some sort? A virgin? I'm not too sure."

"Ancient stories often had a theme of seasons and people who could control the power of those seasons," Jaune rambled with excitement. "This could tie in to something like that."

"Vacuoan tales usually focused on summer though, why would they be looking for something related to fall?"

"Does it matter? This could be a key that is historically important. And if it is a temple to one of these women of seasons that means there's gotta be some treasure there, yeah?'

"Definitely," Ren said with a rare grin.

Yang coughed politely. "Uh, having fun?"

"Yeah," Jaune said with a twinge of embarrassment.

Ren leaned back and folded his hands. "Where did you get this map?"

"My uncle Qrow was something of an adventurous man before he died. He had tons of old artifacts that he left to me. I had people appraise and sell most of it, but we were never able to figure out what this map was."

"Sounds like you had shit appraisers," Jaune chuckled, silenced by a swat from Ren.

"And I'm guessing you want us to track down where this map leads, yes?" Ren asked.

"Naturally." The barista brought a mug to their table, setting it near Yang. She said her thanks and began taking a sip.

Ren nodded. "Let Jaune and I step outside for a moment and talk this over."

"Sure," Yang said. "I'll be here, just yanging around."

The look on Ren's face was that of pain while Jaune let a small chuckle escape. Yang gave him a look of approval. "Go on, talk your nerdy history stuff out there."

Jaune and Ren stood up, their chairs scraping against the polished floor. They stepped out the main door onto the street. The people that had been meandering about had mostly cleared, going to their jobs and morning destinations.

"So, what do you think?" Ren asked once the door shut.

"We've gotta take it," Jaune replied quickly.

Ren frowned. "Are you sure? How can we trust her? How can we trust a beautiful woman that you're attracted to that has a convenient map to a destination in _both_ our interests?"

"She probably sought us out because of our expertise," Jaune said impatiently. "I mean, how many people know Old Vacuoan as well as us?"

"Possible, but the fact that she just happened to come to us of all people? You know he could be behind this, trying to bait us out into the open. He knows we're the experts in this regard."

"You worry too much, Ren. I'll admit that she's somewhat suspicious, we can keep an eye on her," Jaune said while Ren rolled his eyes at the choice of words. "But you saw that map as well as I did. That's absolutely the real deal."

"I will concede that," Ren admitted.

"Then we can't pass it up, no matter what. We've searched for years for a break like this and now we've got a lead. We are not passing this up."

The two stared each other down. Ren backed off. "Alright," he said. "We do it. But the moment something fishy happens, we're jumping ship."

Jaune reached out a hand, relieved. "Deal."

They shook on it.

"Let's go tell her the news," Jaune said, grabbing the handle of the door.

Ren offered a smirk. "You do it. You're the one who can't take your eyes off her."

Jaune rolled her eyes. "I just wasn't expecting it! She's gorgeous and you said it yourself, we usually—"

"Go on, loverboy. You take the lead on this one," Ren said as he walked through the open door.

Jaune sighed.

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 **Author Notes: I've been planning this story for a while and I'm glad to finally be able to start sharing it with you! It, as far as my plan goes, will run for ten chapters. You can expect somewhat frequent updates for the time being.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed this! If you're feeling kind, drop a favorite or follow, or even a review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I believe this goes without saying, but I figured I'd clarify it before we go any further. All the RWBY characters in this story are older than their canon selves, i.e. Jaune is not 17, but rather older in his upper 20s. Anywho, enjoy the chapter!**

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 **Chapter 2**

"Thanks," Ren breathed as he took the bottle of water Jaune extended to him. He sat down on the dock next to Jaune and guzzled the cold reprieve.

"I've got all the gear we needed from town," Jaune said, pointing to the bag behind them. Ren, out of breath, nodded in answer. "Is the plane all packed?"

"Yeah," Ren said, taking a deep sigh. "We're ready to go. If there's any last minute stuff we need to take care of, now's the time."

"Good!" a cheerful voice said from behind them. Both men turned their gazes over their shoulders to see Yang behind them with a cocky grin. Her attire was different from the day they'd first met, now much more casual with a tank top and pants.

"What are you doing here, Yang?" Jaune asked. He stood up from the dock, brushing some wrinkles out of his worn shirt.

Yang blinked, looking confused for a moment. "I thought it was clear I was coming with."

Ren shot a glance at Jaune. "Jaune, did you agree on something without telling me?"

"What? No." A frown wormed its way on Jaune's face.

The blonde shrugged. "I thought it was fairly implicit that I was coming with on this venture."

"I don't think it was, judging from all our reactions," Ren said. He began to pull himself up from the dock, keeping his sweaty self away from Yang for her sake.

"Well, I'm here. So I'm going with," Yang said, her cheery smile coming back with a vengeance.

Ren grabbed Jaune's shoulder. "Allow me to confer with my associate for a moment, Yang." Without waiting for an answer, the black haired man pulled Jaune back a few yards.

"Ow!" Jaune grunted as Ren dug his hand in his shoulder. "What the hell, Ren?"

"Did you tell her to come along?" Ren asked, his voice reaching that calm Jaune usually heard turned on their enemies. Never him.

Jaune slapped his hand away. "Of course not. We're a team, I'd never do something without consulting you. We learned our lesson in that regard a long time ago, didn't we?"

Ren recoiled, breaking eye contact with Jaune. "Sorry. I just…she makes me nervous."

The sliver of anger in his voice retracted. Jaune replaced his vitriol with an easy voice. "I hear that. Do you think that if she is luring us into a trap, it might be better to keep her where we can see her?"

"Keep your enemies close?" Ren asked. His companion nodded in agreement. Ren sighed. "I hate that phrase."

"I know," Jaune said through a chuckle.

Ren nodded. "Alright, that's fine. I'll go get the plane ready." As he walked away, Ren paused and turned back around and stepped back to Jaune. "And keep you gun ready in case she tries anything."

"Deal."

Jaune watched his partner step away and pick up the supplies he had bought in town. Yang gave him an expectant look as she walked forward to him, waiting for an answer.

"Ren says you can come with us, despite my belief that it will be too dangerous," Jaune said. Ren's gait fluctuated as he heard Jaune's sentence and the blond could feel Ren rolling his eyes.

"I can take care of myself." Yang frowned.

Jaune offered a shrug. "Well, most of our jobs like this end with us getting shot at. So if you're cool with that, then I guess it's fine."

"Shot at?" Yang quirked an eyebrow. Her expression was one of disbelief. Well, if all went to plan, her disbelief would be well founded.

"You know, it happens." A cocky grin and a wink. Yang rolled her eyes and began to walk to the plane to board it.

Ren started up the plane, its propeller beginning to spin. Jaune stepped from the water landing gear through the door into the plane.

Ren's voice called back as Jaune sat down across from Yang. "You both ready?"

The blondes shouted their affirmations over the rumble of the engine. The plane began to move across the water, slowly picking up speed until it took off.

The trio left Vale, oblivious to the watching eyes that stared up at the plane that grew smaller and smaller.

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 **Author Notes: Fairly predictable chapter, but it has to happen. I expect chapters will get longer as we progress through this story, but don't hold me to that. Chapters will only ever be as long as they need to be.**

 **Also, don't expect updates this fast usually. I had some unexpected free time today.**


	3. Chapter 3

**We're getting some nice traffic on this story. Thanks everyone for the support!**

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Jaune woke from his slumber at the bounce of turbulence. Ren shouted a word of apology from the cockpit as he took the plane lower to avoid the wind.

Yang shifted uncomfortably across from him. Jaune grinned, "Not a fan of planes?"

"Not really," she answered. "You?"

"I used to get this really bad motion sickness. But I've flown on this plane with Ren for so long that it's much better now." Jaune's mind thought back to Ren's expression when he'd first puked on their plane. Nora never let them forget it nor did—

Jaune blinked. Bad thoughts.

"So Yang, I never actually asked. What do you do?"

"Do?"

"Yeah, like do you have a job? Or a boyfriend? Stay at home mom?"

Yang rolled her eyes. "Not quite. Unless you count raising a sister as being a stay at home mom." Jaune laughed. "I own a gym back on Patch. I bought with the money I made from selling my uncle Qrow's stuff."

"That's cool. Does your sister run it with you?"

She shook her head. "No, Ruby lives in Vale. I was visiting her when I was referred to you two."

"Might I ask, who referred you to us? We like to keep track of which of our friends are doing our work for us so we can buy them a beer." Jaune smirked, but his attention was solely focused on Yang's answer.

"Roman Torchwick. He works with my sister and mentioned something about some friends of his that are treasure hunters," Yang said. "You know him?"

Did Jaune know him? A relieved smile passed over him. Roman, Ren and he went way back. He'd taught Jaune most of what he knew about thievery before he got into treasure hunting. The four of them plus Roman had become infamous back in the day before things fell apart.

"Yeah, an old friend that Ren and I keep in touch with. Just curious, what does your sister do?"

"Sells and appraises artifacts like our uncle did. She specializes in weaponry used by indigenous tribes."

 _Yang either isn't aware of her sister being a thief, or her sister isn't and Roman is playing her._ Jaune filed the information back for use later. He'd have to drop Roman a line when they got back to ask him how things were going.

"Why do you ask?"

Fuck. "Just considering your uncle also did something similar to what Ren and I do, wondered if Ruby was the same way. Always nice to meet someone in the business."

"The business of robbing artifacts from their ancestral home?" Yang raised an eyebrow.

"You don't approve?" Jaune asked, feeling a sense of worry in the pit of his stomach. It vanished as soon as he noticed it. _Why am I worried?_

"It's not that I'm worried. Qrow took artifacts he probably had no business touching and I sold them and bought a gym. I'm just as guilty. I knew the kind of crowd Qrow hung around with, and I just don't want my sister to fall in with that."

"That's understandable. You're sister means a lot to you, doesn't she?" Jaune said, steering the conversation away from the current topic.

"Our mother died when we were young and our dad had…issues, so it was up to me to raise her. I like to think I did a pretty good job." Yang grinned, satisfied as she reflected in her mind on the past.

"Must be nice to have that bond with a sibling," Jaune said wistfully.

"You don't? No siblings?"

"On the contrary, seven."

" _Seven?_ "

"Seven sisters. I haven't seen them in a while and haven't kept in touch. Since I'm always on the move with Ren, I can't visit very well."

"I can't imagine having seven sisters," Yang said, her face an image of horror. "I could barely handle one, much less six more."

Jaune laughed. "You get used to it, trust me."

Ren's voice called back. "I hate to interrupt this getting-to-know-you session, but Jaune, take a look out your window."

With a frown, he looked out the window behind him. A plane flew a few hundred yards away, directly behind them. "Another plane, what of it?"

"It's been there for the past mile, keeping the same pace as me," Ren shouted. "I can't help but think—"

Ren swerved the plane as the other began firing on them. Jaune and Yang were thrown wildly in the plane.

"That's why you always wear your seatbelt, kids," Jaune groaned, rubbing his neck from the whiplash. "Ren, talk to me!"

"They're shooting at us!" Ren shouted. "Are you deaf or something?"

"What do we do?" Yang said, fear intruding on her carefree voice.

"Uh," Jaune said, trying to think of something to say and calm her. "Grab three of the parachutes from the back!"

"Oh shit!" Yang screamed, but slowly walked to the back, hanging on the surrounding objects for dear life.

"Ever the air of calm, Jaune!" Ren shouted, jerking the plane again as the one behind them began to fire.

Jaune made his way to the cockpit and looked through the glass. "That island, what's that?" Jaune asked, pointing at the small bit of land growing closer.

"Our destination, but I can't land with this guy on me," Ren growled. He maneuvered out of the way of another volley of gunfire.

"I've got the parachutes," Yang breathed, having made her way back to the front of the plane. "Does this thing have any weapons?"

"Jaune, I've got an RPG underneath the seats on your side. I need you to open the side door and try to hit the plane."

"Ren, when the hell did you get an RPG?" Jaune shouted as he ran to where Ren had said. Sure enough, an RPG was strapped beneath the seats.

"Can't be too careful!" replied the black haired man. "Get going and kill that son of a bitch before he wrecks my plane!"

"Yang, I need you to open this door!" Jaune said as he readied the RPG, stuffing one of the rockets down the tube.

She opened the door and a torrent of wind assaulted Jaune. He slowly stood up while putting on a parachute. "Yang, now you need to hold me while I lean out of here!"

"Are you serious?" she screamed in reply.

Jaune didn't spare time to answer. One of her arms looped around his torso while the other grabbed a seat within the plane.

"Make it count!" Ren shouted, his voice dampened by the furious wind.

Jaune shook his head, trying to get the hair out of his vision. His hands wrapped tightly on the RPG as he aimed for the other plane.

"Now or never!" Ren screamed as the gunfire picked up again.

Jaune fired.

The rocket launched from the RPG. It flew into the other plane's wing, exploding with a cacophonous boom.

As did the engine on the opposite side of Ren's plane that Jaune stood.

"Shit!" yelled Ren as he ran out of the cockpit. "We've got to—"

"The map!" yelled Jaune.

"Dammit!" Ren ran back to the cockpit. The plane was now in a full drop, nothing keeping it aloft without a pilot at its helm.

"Go!" Jaune shouted at Yang. She jumped from the plane and immediately pulled the chute. "Ren!"

"Go go go!" he screamed, running from the cockpit.

Jaune jumped, pulling his chute as well.

* * *

 **Author Notes: Another chapter and more hints dropped. We get some backstory for our characters here. Trying to keep things a little in touch with canon as I can, but it is an AU after all, so don't expect much more than this.**

 **Damn. I really cranked this chapter out. Hope you all enjoyed this installment as we now get to the more adventurous theme of this story.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the wait! Been working on a speech about tide pods that I gave the other day finally.**

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Jaune crawled onto the sand, his clothes slick with salt water. He coughed, an attempt to dispel the disgusting tinge of the ocean from the water he'd swallowed.

"Yang? Ren?" Jaune croaked. He hadn't been watching where Yang had landed, nor when Ren had jumped the plane. His parachute had deployed late, leaving him with a landing he'd be sore from for weeks.

Neither of his companions answered. Jaune rolled over and looked both ways down the beach. All he saw was the stretching sand and his parachute.

"Damn," Jaune swore, and picked himself up. His arms screamed from the swimming. His hands brushed the sand that clung to his clothes, a somewhat futile attempt to remove the coarse grains.

Ahead of him was the jungle. A plume of smoke billowed up into the sky. Their crashed plane.

His destination.

-X-

Where his shirt had once been soaked with water, now sweat had taken its place. The jungle's heat was getting to him.

But he'd made it to the crashed plane. Unfortunately, it wasn't Ren's.

Three men stood near the wreckage. They spoke in hushed tones, their words not carrying to Jaune's vantage point. The blond ducked behind a tree as he observed the trio. None of them looked in his direction, instead pointing at the plane and speaking.

 _Remember Roman's training_ , Jaune thought. He took three deep breaths to calm his breathing. His heart slowed from the rapid pace to a slower beat, still faster than he'd have liked.

Jaune crept forward, keeping his eyes trained on the men. As he approached, he recognized their clothing. Jungle camo, with a patch on the shoulder that read Venture. A private mercenary company that's owner was very familiar with Jaune.

 _Ren's not going to like this._ Jaune was five feet from them when one turned around.

They made eye contact for a split second. Jaune was already moving.

His fist jammed itself in the man's stomach, reeling him back. Jaune's leg swept out and tripped the second man. As the third one lifted his assault rifle, Jaune knocked it aside. He grabbed the man's head and slammed him against a nearby tree, producing an audible _crack._

The first man leapt on Jaune's back, staggering him. The second picked himself up and aimed his pistol. Jaune turned on the spot and the bullet struck the man on his back instead. Arms slipped off his shoulder and horror blossomed on the man's face as he realized who his bullet had hit.

Jaune held no such remorse. He scooped up the assault rifle from the dead man at the tree and fired three quick shots into the last man.

The breath that Jaune didn't know he held released. The silence that followed reminded Jaune of how loud gunshots were.

In a flurry of five minutes, Jaune grabbed the assault rifle and pistol from the Venture men. He ransacked the wreckage, grabbing rope and water.

Then, he ran like hell.

Not three minutes into his running did shouts erupt from the wreckage he'd left behind. And not long after that, the engines sputtered.

His feet carried him a distance before he collapses to take a breath. Jaune slid down the tree and sighed.

The rumble of a motor broke him from his brief trance. Jaune dove to the ground from his sitting position and hid amongst the ferns. The silence of the jungle only amplified the noise of the engine as it grew closer.

The truck slowed as it passed by Jaune's hiding place. He heard the voices over the noise.

"Were we supposed to be expecting interference?"

"No." The curt answer came from a familiar voice. One Jaune knew all too well.

"We shot the plane down, but there must be at least one more of them. That girl couldn't have flown the plane and fired a rocket at ours simultaneously."

"I know. Don't think you're a genius for figuring that out."

Jaune inched forward, risking a glance through the edge of the ferns as the Venture truck slowly cruised past. His eyes watched the driver's seat and blinked back memories.

Cardin Winchester.

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 **Author Notes: This chapter had me a bit worried that not enough was happening. I tried to spice it up, but it didn't feel right to skip over so much time just to get to the next plot point. Hope you enjoyed!**

 **Now if you excuse me, I have the several projects to get to!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Yeesh, I am tired of writing papers. Luckily, I have this story to go to for some easy relaxation.**

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Jaune followed the Venture vehicle from a distance until it led him to an encampment filled with the mercenary personnel. Men and women walked about, armed with assault rifles and similar weapons.

He'd spent an hour walking the perimeter, counting the guards and planning. One woman had made the mistake of investigating when he'd snapped a branch, and now she laid unconscious in a bush and Jaune wore her uniform. It was snug, but at least she'd been his height more or less.

And that was how Jaune walked into the Venture camp in broad daylight.

There were over thirty people in the camp. Too many for them to know every face. Hopefully.

Jaune walked through the small area, casting a sidelong glance at each canopy and tent, looking for Yang. He avoided walking with any other soldiers, taking turns whenever he almost ran into a group of Venture mercs.

Finally, he saw her. Under a canopy on the edge of camp. The unfortunate part was Cardin speaking to her as she was tied to a chair. Jaune turned, choosing a random direction to walk in.

And he ran into the large body of a man. Jaune stumbled back and looked up to see a fist collide with his vision.

-X-

"Well, Mr. Arc, it has been a while." Cardin's voice bounced around his head while his vision was still black.

"Ugh," came Jaune's reply, his eyes blinking furiously to dispel his blind state. "Cardin?"

"The one, the only," chuckled his one-time friend. "When I saw the plane that went down, it was pretty easy to recognize it as Ren's. I put two and two together and figured you'd turn up at some point. Had my people looking for someone with your mug, and like always, they did the job well."

"You might want to try getting punched in the face every once in a while," Jaune said through a groan. "It'll do wonders for your complexion."

"Glad you haven't changed. Much." As Jaune's vision slowly came back to him, he felt Cardin put a cup up to his mouth. Water poured down his throat. Jaune greedily slurped it up. "Now," Cardin said as he returned to the seat in front of Jaune that was only now visible to him, "I want that map."

"Map?" Jaune asked, buying time to think.

"Yes, map." Cardin frowned. "I know you have it. Your friend was kind enough to fill me in on the details of your excursion to this island." Yang made herself aware by struggling against her gag not five feet away from Jaune. "I have the second half, now I need yours." Jaune's eyes lit up. Second half?

Cardin laughed. "Seems like you didn't know about another half either. You know, Jaune, when we used to steal for Roman, I remember us actually having a plan. Lost your touch?"

"I'm not giving you the map," Jaune said. His hand wriggled in the knot behind the chair. His wrist slid in some, giving his fingers access to the knot on his other arm.

A backhand smashed into Jaune's jaw. The blond let out a sharp gasp of air, head throbbing.

"You see, Jaune, I don't have time for your shit today. I'm on a contract to find this treasure, and I will be fulfilling my end to my contractor. So I'm gonna skip the bullshit and cut to the chase." Cardin reached into his coat and removed a pistol. He stepped over to Yang and pointed it at her kneecap. "One chance. Tell me where the map is, or I cripple the woman."

Yang screamed into her gag and struggled against the bonds. Cardin didn't take his eyes off Jaune as he calmly pointed the gun. "Only one chance, Jaune. Don't think about calling my bluff if you care about her. Remember Nora."

Nora. Jaune had been the one to find her body after Cardin had absconded with their treasure from that job. He could still remember her screams.

"I don't have it," Jaune said. "Ren does."

Cardin smiled. "There we go. Not so hard, is it, Jauney-boy?" He laughed at his nickname for Jaune. "Now, where's Ren?"

"Haven't seen him since jumping from the plane," Jaune said. He'd loosened both knots. He was ready to make a break for it.

"Very well." Cardin stood up and motioned to a woman nearby. She handed him a megaphone.

Cardin held it up and shouted, "Lie Ren!" Birds evacuated the trees and the rustle of frightened animals echoed across the quite jungle. "Lie Ren! I have your friends. Come quietly, and I'll let you all live. Bring me that map or I'll kill Jaune and the girl!"

"He'll never come quietly," Jaune said, biding his time with the knots.

Laughter answered him. Cardin turned a cocky grin toward him. "I'm counting on it."

-X-

Cardin had them under watch, two Venture men standing watching the blonde duo. Any hope Jaune had of making a plan with Yang was dashed.

One of the men walked up to Yang. "Odd to think a bitch like you was able to take out ten of our people before getting captured."

Yang's nostrils flared, the gag preventing her from saying whatever remark had jumped to her lips. Jaune could see her hands clench.

The man who still stood at his position snorted. "Watch it. She's dangerous."

The other shook his head. "I think she just needs to be taught a lesson. A lesson of who is really on top—"

His sentence was left unfinished as the crack of a gunshot was the harbinger of the blood that splatter on Yang. Another _bang_ dropped the other man.

Jaune ripped his hands out of the bindings and scrambled to undo the leg restraints. A Venture merc ran in and raised the butt of his rifle at Jaune.

Yang crashed into him, still tied to her chair. The fragile wood broke under the force of the collision, freeing Yang. She took one of the wood beams and brained the man.

 _Wow_ , thought Jaune. Yang walked to him and untied the gag. "My hero," he joked.

"Let's get going, princess." Yang chuckled.

Gunshots from the Venture force responded to the sniper's fire. No doubt it was Ren, providing them with cover fire. "We've gotta go," Jaune said, pointing to the jungle next to them. "We can lose them in here."

"We need the other piece of that map!" Yang said, picking up the nearest assault rifle. "We can get Cardin in the confusion." She walked out of the canopy and started shooting.

"God dammit," Jaune muttered, snagging his own gun. He followed Yang's suit and fired upon Venture.

For a few blissful moments, the Venture troops were unaware that they were being fired on from behind. Several fell to the blondes' gunfire.

Then, Ren's gunshots stopped. Jaune and Yang looked at one another, then felt guns at their back.

Cardin's chuckle wormed its way into their ears. "For shame, Jaune. I know how you work, how you think." He took the megaphone and spoke into it. "Ren, the map or your blonde friends become a connect-the-dots game."

* * *

 **Author Notes: That was fun to write. This is the halfway point for this story! I know it is moving fast, but that's my style. I hope you're all enjoying this, and I think you'll like where this is ultimately going.**

 **Always drop a review if you have something to say! Don't like something I'm doing? I can't fix it unless you tell me!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Damn have I been busy. Finals are two weeks away and that means tons of papers/projects due. If you don't see another update for a while, that's why!**

* * *

Jaune felt the past wash over him as the triumphant smirk of Cardin's brought back memories. In both his hands were the halves of the map while Ren was pushed to the side by some bigger Venture men.

"I'm almost tempted to bring you along, Jaune," Cardin said, looking over the full map. "A bit of a trip down memory lane, hunting for treasure together."

Ren growled. He received a jab in the stomach for it.

"Ren, Ren." Cardin laughed, looking up at them for a moment. "I do recall you telling me not to be one to hold grudges."

Murder lingered in Ren's eyes. Jaune didn't blame him.

"Alright, Cardin. We gave you the map, now let us go," Jaune said.

Another laugh from his former friend. "That sounds a little too risky. I'd rather just finish up this little scenario before it spirals out of control."

"Cardin—"

"What?" He gave a smirk. "I lied." He turned to the rest of his people. "Rig timers and explosives. We'll blow them to shit."

-X-

Ten minutes later, Jaune found himself tied to a familiar chair. Yang and Ren faced him, explosives rigged up around them in a circle.

A steady beeping noise sounded off behind them. A constant reminder of what was to come.

"Sorry I can't stick around," Cardin said as his mercenaries were getting into vehicles. "But this blast is going to be…rather large. I'd expect the island will be far worse for wear afterwards."

"Who the hell are you?" Yang spoke up. "Why are you doing this?"

"Ah, a fair question." Cardin knelt down by Yang so he was eye-level with her. "Well, once upon a time I used to work with these two. But there was someone else, a woman named Nora, who also worked with us. Quite the group we made, stealing everything we could. But then I killed Nora and ran off with a treasure. 'Fraid these boys haven't quite forgiven me yet for it."

Ren growled, his arms tensing as he tried to force his way through the bonds. His efforts were futile and only earned a grin from Cardin.

"Boss!" yelled one of the Venture mercs.

"Coming!" Cardin shouted back. "Well, farewell you three. Sorry it had to end this way, but the people I work for…well, let's just say I want to make sure you don't get in my way." Cardin got back on his feet and walked away, careful not to bump any of the explosives.

The Venture trucks began to drive off. Ren looked at Jaune. "Plan?"

"Escape. I might be able to break my wrist to escape." Jaune moved his bonds to closer to the chair and began to apply pressure.

Ren looked to Yang. "I don't suppose you can defuse a bomb?"

"I can."

"Fu—" Ren paused. "Wait, what?"

"My Uncle Qrow. You'd have to have met him to know." Yang wriggled her arms, an attempt to slide them out. "He had a thing about his nieces being prepared."

Jaune stifled a scream as his thumb broke. Not what he wanted, but it would work. With effort and excruciating pain, he slide his hand out of the bonds. The lack of a thumb to use made untying the rest of himself difficult.

"Jaune, are you okay?" Yang asked with concern.

The blond didn't hear her, the pain and beeping the only stimuli his senses picked up. His breathing quick, Jaune managed to free his legs. In a haze he stumbled to Yang's chair and began to untie her. Within a minute, Yang was up and at the detonator.

The beeping was incessant. Jaune thought it seemed louder with each passing moment. His weak hands fumbled with Ren's ropes until they fell to the ground.

"Yang, how are we doing?" Ren asked as he jumped from the chair and ran to her side. Jaune made his way over, his pain induced stupor fading.

"Not good," Yang said. "There's a secondary detonator that's primed to go off if I mess with the first, but the secondary has seven wires that could trigger an explosion if I clip the wrong one."

"So what does that mean?" Jaune asked.

Yang looked at him. "We need to move."

The three leapt to their feet and began to run.

For forty five seconds, nothing happened.

The cacophonous _boom_ of the detonation shredded through Jaune's ears as he felt himself get tackled to the ground. A wave of heat brushed over him as he lay completely still. Several moments passed and dirt rained down on him.

"Go!" Ren's voice was muffled, unclear. Jaune pressed his hand to the ground to stand up and cried out, crumbling down.

Yang's arms wrapped around him and pulled him up. She looked at him and yelled something, but her voice was too muffled to decipher. Frustrated, she grabbed his hand (The uninjured one) and began to lead him along as followed, dazed.

* * *

 **Author Notes: Feels good to write this again! I've got a friend playing Uncharted right now, so I'm getting all excited about those games again. I've got fun plans for this fic.**

 **Did I do something wrong (Or right)? Tell me in a review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi.**

* * *

The daze dispelled once Jaune found himself sitting. A quick look showed him the ocean with Ren at the helm of the boat they'd apparently found.

"Yang, here." Ren tossed the woman a spyglass. "Look around and see if you can find them. Maybe luck is on our side."

Jaune stumbled to the opposite side of the boat and retrieved the first aid kit. With one good hand, he began to bandage his mutilated hand. The ease of the act spoke to his practice in the matter.

"That way, I see them!" Yang cried out, pointing out onto the horizon.

The boat immediately geared into motion. Ren's hands whizzed around the controls, spurring the boat forward.

"We'll keep our distance," Ren said. "Don't want to give away that we didn't get blown up."

Yang nodded and stepped back towards Jaune. Crouching down by the blond, she asked, "You doing okay?"

He exhaled, realizing he hadn't been breathing regularly since the bomb. Jaune looked up at Yang and mustered a grin, "Could be better."

Yang chuckled. Offering a hand, she helped him to his feet and they walked towards Ren.

"We'll need a plan," Ren said as he noticed the blond duo approaching. "That is, if we're still all in the same boat as for getting this treasure."

"Shit pun," Jaune said while Yang offered her fist for Ren to bump. The black haired man looked at it confused, and then realized what he said.

"Disregard that, are we all on the same page, grabbing this treasure?" Ren asked.

"I'm not backing down," Yang said.

"Neither am I," Jaune nodded.

-X-

It didn't take them long until they made landfall. They pulled their boat up onto the beach, some distance away from where the other Venture boats were parked.

"Now comes the hard part," Ren said. "Tracking them across a jungle island."

"Shouldn't be that hard," Jaune mused, trying to take his mind off his broken bones. "Cardin never goes anywhere without muscle."

"This…Cardin," Yang said, slowly. "He has us outnumbered and outgunned. What's our plan for that?"

"Run in, wing it, and hope it works," Jaune said.

When Ren didn't rebut, Yang frowned. "You're joking."

Jaune tossed a shotgun to Ren that was stashed in the back of the Venture boat. "Nope."

"How about we go steal some things from their boats, _then_ pursue?" Yang suggested. Her face screamed exasperation.

Ren nodded. Jaune said, "Well, you have a point."

"C'mon, idiots." Yang gestured for them to follow her.

-X-

"There they are." Jaune pointed at the mouth of a cave.

The trio were in the thick of the jungle, staring at a huge cave entrance that had ancient carvings around its mouth. Three Venture mercenaries stood outside, lazily guarding the entrance.

"Take them out silently?" Ren suggested.

"Read my mind," Jaune said. "Let's go."

* * *

 **Author Notes: So uh, yeah, back at this. Just played Uncharted 4 again and really felt the itch to return to this.**

 **My near-year absence has been brought to you by toxic relationships, deteriorating mental health and close brushes with death! Thank you for your patience as I finally have a better grip on life.**

 **So let's see how this goes from here. This is still going to be 10 chapters, and I'm thinking probably 10k for wordcount by the end.**


	8. Chapter 8

**I am extremely angry with the rest of the editing staff in an organization I work with, so I am going to channel my anger by killing fictitious people. This chapter is brought to you by incompetency and inability to proofread!**

* * *

It almost worked.

Ren had taken care of his Venture soldier while Yang was silently dragging hers away.

Jaune's grabbed his wounded hand and the blond gasped in pain. The Venture man pointed his gun at Ren and fired, missing as Jaune slammed his good hand into the man's stomach.

The cacophonous gunshot rang out through the forest, sending birds scattering.

"Dammit," Ren swore loudly, all pretenses of cover blown. "They would have heard that in the cave too."

Another gunshot rang out, bullet hitting the rock behind them.

"Get behind the rocks!" Jaune yelled. Several huge boulders were scattered about the cave's mouth, remnants of an old avalanche.

The volume of bullets increased, pinging off the stone. Ren waved at Jaune, "Switch with me!" He tossed the shotgun in his hands to Jaune. The blond caught it, throwing his rifle to his partner.

"What do we do?" Yang screamed as the hail of bullets continued to rain.

Ren peeked around the corner, firing several times before ducking back. He turned to the other two and said, "Go after Cardin, I'll take care of this!"

"What?" Yang said, aghast.

Jaune nodded. "You sure?"

Ren reloaded. "Give him hell from me."

"Yang, come on. Ren will be fine." Jaune held the shotgun awkwardly with his injured hand. "Cover us!"

As the two blondes ran to the cave, Ren held his gun past the rock and fired blindly. When the two had made it safely in, he breathed deeply.

"No way that I'm dying here, Nora. No way in hell…" Ren said through grit teeth.

-X-

"Damn," muttered Jaune as he stepped over another body. A spear stabbed directly through the man's neck, seemingly having shot out of the wall.

Yang looked sick. "Does Cardin even care about the lives of his soldiers?"

"Cardin doesn't care about a lot of things." Jaune led the way, pausing to give Yang directions when he picked out a trap that Venture hadn't set off.

"Who was Nora?" Yang asked. She looked like she'd been chewing on the question for some time now.

"She and Ren grew up together. Orphans." Jaune clenched his fist in memory. "I met them after Roman picked me up. Cardin came soon after. The four of us got along really well and more importantly, we worked together exceptionally. In our prime, there were a string of heists that had the police running like mad. Ren and I were the brains, Nora and Cardin the brawn."

Yang said nothing, letting Jaune continue.

"It happened when we were after some ceremonial cane. Very mysterious history, very expensive price on its head. We got in okay, but Ren and I were on our way to the rendezvous point when it happened. Cardin and Nora got there first and he saw his chance. Killed her and we heard the screams over our earpieces."

Jaune shrugged helplessly. "We ran to get there, but it was too late. She lost a lot of blood. Cardin got away."

She put a hand on his shoulder. "Then this is your chance for revenge, or maybe at least answers."

The blond offered a half-hearted chuckle. "Roman is gonna be pissed he missed this."

"He was close with her too?"

"Something of a father figure for us. At least me."

The two blondes tread softly as the number of corpses decreased. Ahead, they could hear voices.

"The gold is nice and all, but we're here to find the crown. Find that, and we're gonna be swimming in more lien than this gold could get us." Cardin's voice.

Jaune and Yang pressed their backs against a rock, around which led to a wide open chamber filled with gold.

"Holy…" Yang whispered.

"First rule of treasure hunting," Jaune whispered, "is that the treasure room is filled with traps. There should be something we can trigger…"

His voice drifted off, eyes on the ceiling. The light of the Venture soldiers' flashlights gave enough illumination to see a series of ropes and pulleys on the top of the cave.

"I have a plan."

* * *

 **Author Notes: A word of advice, you would-be-editors, make sure everyone on the editing team gets a chance to look over your product before sending it to print. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to write out some emails to apologize to some writers whose work got fucked up when it wasn't even my fault.**


	9. Chapter 9

**This would have been done a week ago if I hadn't gotten extremely sick. Enjoy!**

* * *

Jaune successfully crept to the opposite side of the treasure chamber. Cardin's soldiers were making plenty of noise digging through gold. They were looking for something, something specific.

Yang remained where they entered. If things went south, she'd be his supporting fire.

One of the flashlights' beams lingered on the ceiling. Jaune quickly followed one of the pulley systems to the wall he was next to. Something no doubt would trigger the trap, but he could cut out the middle man. All he had to do was cut the rope and if his hunch was correct, the ceiling would collapse.

Getting out would be the issue, but Jaune would worry about that later.

"Sir!" shouted a woman. Jaune found himself looking over at where the voice came from.

The Venture woman held an ornate crown in her hand, the flashlight exposing the shimmer of gold. Jaune wasn't close by any means, but even he could tell the thing was worth a fortune.

"Excellent," Cardin said as he walked over. He traipsed through gold, the coins and other manners of treasure jingling. Then there was a loud _thunk._

Jaune watched Cardin stop. Color drained from his face. Nothing happened in the room.

"Sir?" the same woman said, still holding the crown.

"Pressure plate. Or something. Fuck." Cardin bent down, appearing to not move his foot, and pushed some treasure away. "If I move, we're fucked."

The five Venture soldiers in the room looked at each other warily.

Jaune reached to his waist and pulled out his gun. The ropes and pulleys were forgotten, this was his chance. He began to creep forward, hiding behind one of the large treasure piles.

"What are your orders, sir?" a rougher voice said.

Cardin swore softly. "We have the crown, so our payout isn't in danger. We need to get enough weight to weigh down this plate so I can step off."

Jaune had an idea.

He stood up from behind the pile of gold and pointed his gun directly at Cardin. "End of the line, Cardin."

The Venture mercenaries pointed their weapons at him. Cardin smirked. "Jaune. You're like a bad day, I just can't shake you."

"Careful with your guns, everyone," Jaune said. "If I shoot Cardin, the ceiling collapses. You see those ropes and pulleys across the top?"

They all looked up, sans Cardin. The man just stared at Jaune with that same smirk. One of the braver Venture men spoke up, "If you shoot him, you'll die too."

"I think I'm willing to bet on myself, the treasure hunter, over the mercenary troupe." Jaune's eyes rapidly shot across the individuals pointing weapons at him. They seemed to be buying it.

Yang poked her head up from her hiding spot. Jaune tried not to look at her, lest he give her away. She had her gun in her hand, seemingly waiting for an opening.

"Jaune, let's be reasonable." Cardin stood up straight, looking his old friend in the eye. "I know you're good enough to get out of here alive, but let's see if we can both get what we want. You deactivate this trap and let us leave with the crown, the rest of the treasure is yours."

How much is that crown worth? There was millions of lien worth of gold in the chamber. Cardin was willing to walk away from all that for the sake of a single crown?

"What's the crown?" Jaune asked, buying time to think.

Cardin gestured to the crown in one of his mercenary's hands. "An old piece. You know me, I don't know the history like you do. But we have a buyer very keen on getting their hands on it. Willing to pay us a lot for it. Enough that I'm not asking any questions."

"Who's the buyer?" Jaune stalled again.

Cardin shrugged. "No idea, she just introduced herself as Fall." His eyes hardened. "Enough stalling, Jaune, what'll it be?"

Jaune slowly held up his hands and gun in a surrendering gesture. Cardin nodded with approval and began to bend down to his feet. He stopped right before and turned his head up to Jaune. "Where's Ren and the girl?"

 _Bang! Bang! Bang!_

Yang fired three shots, each hitting a member of Venture. Jaune fumbled for a moment before hitting the woman holding the crown with his bullets.

The last soldier fired blindly at where Yang was. She returned fire and hit him.

Cardin leapt for the crown, grabbing it. The room began to rumble. Jaune looked at the ceiling as he began to run for the exit.

It was when the floor began to move that he realized his mistake. The trap wasn't for the ceiling.

From the back of the room, the floor began to collapse. Cacophonous booms resonated through Jaune's body as stone slabs fell to whatever depth the chamber really held.

He ran. One look over his shoulder saw Cardin behind him, trying to escape as well. He looked forward. Yang waved him forward as she watched the progress of the trap.

Jaune looked behind again. Cardin was nowhere in sight.

"Jaune!" Yang shouted.

The floor was almost gone beneath him. He could feel the stones giving way with each step. Yang held out a hand. "Jump!"

He did.

* * *

 **Author Notes: I'll admit the original plan for this story was to write this arc, then two or three more of these with similar pacing and maybe higher word counts. Kind of like how Uncharted 1 is very bare bones while each successive game gets longer and, in my opinion, better. I don't know if that'll pan out for this. We'll see if my interest in RWBY gets rekindled at some point.**

 **One more chapter after this!**


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